Today I had an appointment to get lab work done. Results looked good to us, but we haven’t heard anything from the doctors. While I was there they checked my vitals and found my blood pressure to be really low and my pulse really high. So I got a liter of fluids and had to get an EKG. Everything seems to be okay and both blood pressure and pulse seemed to normalize before I left. The EKG needs to be read by a cardiologist, but there wasn’t anything that alarmed anyone.
A couple of days ago I got a package from the Siteman Center in St. Louis that contained quite a few cards that had arrived after my discharge. So those of you that sent cards, thank you, and I finally did receive them.
I’ve been promising you some pictures for awhile, so I thought I’d finally get them to you.
The first picture shows the room and equipment where I had my stem cells collected back in September. I was the first to get started, but there were five of us getting our cells collected, and there were nurses monitoring each of us, so the room was kind of crowded. The second picture shows me hooked up and the collection in process.

These next pictures are from the transplant stay. The first three show the room I lived in for 2 1/2 weeks, my "closet" and my TV.

The next pics are of the transplant. This first one is the cannister that held my cryogenically frozen stem cells.

This is the warming bath. The stem cells had to go from a frozen state to a pre-determined temperature before they could be transplanted.

The next two are the nurses placing the stem cells into the warming bath.

The transplant process, once the cells were warmed, only took about 30 minutes.

This last picture shows Alicea and J.R. shaving my head. My hair started falling out about 2 weeks after I got there, so I decided to just shave it. Tida's used to it, but I'm still a little surprised every time I look in the mirror! Haven't decided if I'll keep it shaved or not. If it was summer it'd be easier to leave it, but my head gets cold and it's not even winter yet!

I know it’s been a long time since I’ve given an update, but before I start the update I have to say, prayer works, and thank you for all the thousands of prayers offered on our behalf. This has been a tough 2 ½ weeks. You might have heard or be tempted to say, “Jim’s tough, he’s a fighter”, but this had nothing to do with me. The fact that I’m sitting at home right now giving you this update, is all God’s hand once again working in my life. There were many days I had no energy and no desire for energy, I’d just lie in bed waiting for the days to pass. The fact that my blood counts responded so quickly and allowed me an early discharge had nothing to do with me or my fight. Prayer works.

The days following the transplant are a blur. I know that immediately following the transplant I felt pretty good, but as each day passed and my blood counts crept towards zero, I had less and less energy. Rock bottom was Monday the 19th into Tuesday the 20th. I’d acquired an infection in the stomach, and starting Monday afternoon, I had a fever, high blood pressure, and high pulse rate. As the evening progressed, I developed rigors, which is uncontrollable shivering or shaking. I got Demerol to relieve the shaking, but it came back within 45 minutes. They gave me over 2 liters of fluid throughout the night and a blood transfusion-they wanted to give me two units but were only able to give me one due to the high fever. The fever broke around 3 a.m. Tuesday and the worst was over. The next couple of days are simply gone, I just know I had had no energy and didn’t really care. Amazingly, my blood counts started going back up Tuesday, and made dramatic increases on Thursday. Not surprising, Thursday’s the day I started feeling better. My counts kept getting better, to the point where there wasn’t any reason to keep me in the hospital. Saturday the 24th I was discharged, but needed to stay local in case anything came up, plus I had a follow up appointment on the 27th. At the appointment it was determined that because of my counts and the fact I had had good care available at home, there wasn’t really any reason to keep me around. They were a little nervous about the release because it was earlier than they expected. They made it clear I’m supposed to limit my contact with others as much as possible and wear a mask when there is contact, and notify all the doctors whenever I have any new symptoms-cold, fever, anything. So the next couple of months will be interesting as my immune system rebounds.

I’m still very tired and my energy seems to fluctuate throughout the day. Being home should help me get better more quickly, but I’m sure there’ll be a lot of long days sitting at home.
Again, thank you for all your prayers and support. It works.
Prayer works.

I'm probably going to forget some stuff, just because it seems like there's been a lot going on. We arrived in St. Louis Friday afternoon, got lab work done, then was admitted to the hospital and in my room by 4:30. My first round of chemo was scheduled for Friday night around 10:30. To help with one of the side effects, they recommended chewing ice before, during and after chemo. The treatment was a little late getting started, so I was chewing ice until about midnight! Second chemo treatment was Saturday morning at 10:30. Same ice routine. Sunday was supposed to be my day of rest, but that's pretty much impossible in the hospital. Today was day 0, or transplant day. They brought my stem cells in the room in a cryogenic tube at about 11:30, then thawed them in a water bath. I had two bags of cells to take in and each one took about 15 minutes. I've just been resting since then.
I've been feeling pretty good, minor bouts with nausea, no appetite, and just tired. They say my worst days are still to come, probably day 4 or 5 post transplant, where I will just feel bad and not want to do anything at all. That should only last a day or so then I should start feeling better.
Tida of course took pictures during the transplant, so at some point I'll get those posted along with the pictures of the harvest of the stem cells. I'll try to keep this going for everyone, I know there's so much support out there. Thank you all!

I’m finally starting to feel like I have some energy again. I did absolutely nothing over the weekend and didn’t go to work Monday. Finally Monday afternoon I felt like a doing a few little chores around the house, so I‘d do a chore for 15 minutes or so, then rest for an hour. Now that’s a schedule I’d like to maintain for a long time! I’m back to work now, but I’ve decided that I just don’t need to push myself, so I’m cutting out early and getting some good rest time in.
I’ve been really emotional the last couple of weeks. I’d like to blame it on the radiation, but I think it’s just that I’ve been very aware of the number of really good people that God’s surrounded me with, and how much they truly care. Realizing I don’t have to be “superman”, cutting back on hours worked, and letting people do things for me has been difficult but necessary for my physical well being. It’s also helped open my eyes and made me much more aware of all the good people out there. I appreciate all of you and your support.

I’ll try to post again before we head out to St. Louis Friday morning, but after that, don’t be surprised if you don’t hear from me for a few days. I’m thinking I may not feel real well after I get my initial treatments.

I finished up my radiation treatments today and I actually felt better today than I have for a few days. I guess leaving work early and trying to take care of myself has helped. I'm still amazed at the quality of people we've met and continue to meet throughout this ordeal. The radiation tech's are just incredible people and both times we've finished treatments we feel like we're leaving friends. Also, there's a young man that manages the valet parking at the Peet Center (where I go for radiation) and he's been there for both rounds of radiation and any other time we need to go to the Center. He's planning on being in St. Louis while I'll be there and he asked for contact information so he could visit while he's there. Amazing.
Of course family's always there. My sister-in-laws and mother-in-law are keeping me in food while Tida's been needing to work late hours this week. I know it's a relief to Tida knowing that I'm getting fed, especially since the radiation has caused me to lose several pounds this week even while I'm trying to eat.
I'm going to try to relax this weekend, watch a lot of football and NASCAR, and build my strength up for next week.

The last few days have been kind of rough. I've been really tired, and didn't go to work today after radiation because I was so tired and just didn't feel well at all. These are some of the symptoms to be expected from radiation. I just feel lucky I haven't experienced them earlier, and I only have three more treatments to go.
I'll still try to get some pictures posted, but I'm just resting as much as possible right now.

I hadn’t realized it’d been so long since I posted anything, and I’ve been “scolded” more than once that I hadn’t updated my blog. There’s obviously been a lot going on since my post of the 15th. My dad’s visitation and funeral were Friday the 18th and Saturday the 19th. Both were very well attended and we received several comments about the services. I’ve mentioned on more than one occasion how great the folks I work with are. My family was absolutely amazed at how many Bank people showed up at the visitation and funeral, and how many cards and donations were received. Again, these are very special people that I’m very fond of.

I started radiation treatment Monday the 21st for the spot in my lower back. The “myeloma deposit” is away from the spine, on the sacrum, with tissue growth in and around the bone. This guy’s been pretty determined. He’s been growing since at least April, and continued to grow throughout the chemo therapy. In case you’re wondering, no I haven’t named him; I don’t want to give him that much respect, but he is tough! They’re not being as careful with the dosage of radiation as they were when it was located directly on my spine. I’m getting roughly twice the dosage this time as I received the first time; but only 10 scheduled treatments and no steroids. Dr. Wall thought I’d start receiving relief from the pain by the end of the first week, and I think I can feel some difference. I’ve been really tired since I started treatments, so I don’t know if it’s directly related to the radiation; the fact that life’s been a little hectic the last several weeks; or a combination. Regardless, I still have a good attitude and had some folks laughing a bit at work explaining some of the “equipment” I acquired while in St. Louis.

This weekend I’ll try to give a little more info on the St. Louis trip, include some pictures of the aforementioned equipment and the process of collecting my stem cells. In the meantime, as always, no worries. If you don’t hear from me, I’m just busy, tired, or both; never down, it will never get me down!